Andrew Lord. Spirit-Shaped Mission: A Holistic Charismatic Missiology. Studies in Pentecostal and Charismatic Issues Series. Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2005. xii + 154 pp. $17.99 (paper), ISBN 978-1-84227-264-0.

Reviewed by William Prevette (Southeastern University)
Published on H-Pentecostalism (April, 2009)
Commissioned by Gene Mills (Florida State University)

Embracing Tensions in Charismatic Missiology

Andrew Lord’s Spirit-Shaped Mission: A Holistic Charismatic Missiology might be more aptly subtitled "Embracing Tensions in Charismatic Missiology." This book is a welcome addition to scholastic Pentecostal-charismatic studies; it addresses the need for a more holistic approach in terms of content, outworking, agency, and life in mission. Several sections of the book appeared as earlier versions in other publications, such as the Journal of Pentecostal Theology. In this volume, Lord synthesizes his emergent theological analysis concerning charismatic mission. He writes from a charismatic Anglican perspective and draws liberally from both charismatic and Pentecostal scholars; he offers a robust pneumatological theology of holistic mission and integrates recent charismatic and classic Pentecostal mission studies.

Lord acknowledges the contribution of David J. Bosch’s important work Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (1991) and moves on to develop a holistic framework for understanding "mission of  the Spirit." Lord differentiates between "Spirit of mission" and "mission of the Spirit," maintaining that charismatics and Pentecostals prefer the former, but need to embrace and better articulate the latter. He constructs a theological rubric that embraces several "creative tensions" based on the movement of the Holy Spirit (p. 8). A key to his thesis is addressing the movement of the Holy Spirit between the "particular" (individuals and communities) and the "universal" (those that open us up to others and creation, making us aware of our interdependence) (p. 8). Lord also incorporates two key metaphors throughout the book: "blessing" and "yearning." "Blessing" represents the extravagant joys and riches of the Kingdom of God, the power of love and healing found in the Spirit directed outward and inward in mission. But blessing cannot be separated from "yearning," that is, the groans of creation still subject to pain, sorrow, and sin. The "mission of the Spirit" can be seen as that yearning within the world and bringing blessing into the world. Lord makes a significant contribution as charismatic and Pentecostal theologies of mission have been quick to embrace the promise and blessing of the Spirit and less forthcoming in describing how the Spirit leads the church into mission, especially in times of pain, despair, hopelessness, and puzzlement.

The book is divided into two parts. The first reviews current mission thinking within charismatic and the wider Pentecostal tradition. Following the introduction, chapter 2 includes contributions from charismatic sources: John Wimber, Kevin Springer, David Pytches, Nigel Wright, Michael Harper, David Watson, and John Gunstone. The discussion draws on Anglican charismatic theology of mission and raises questions that challenge the current state of thinking, such as how charismatic theology will seek to transform unjust structures in society and safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth. Chapter 3 continues the historical review, taking account of Pentecostal debates on mission. Lord acknowledges that this has been done with "greater academic rigour" with particular understandings of Christology, pneumatology, and eschatology (p. 33). I commend this chapter as a useful literature review; the footnotes and sources are substantial and include works by Melvin Hodges, D. William Faupel, Walter Hollenweger, Donald Dayton, John Michael Penny, Steven Land, Gary McGee, Paul Pommerville, Douglas Petersen, L. Grant McClung Jr., Murray Dempster, and Allan Anderson. The historical survey includes a discussion of Pentecostal theology in dialogue with the outcomes of Lausanne II (1989), which opened a deeper holistic understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit in mission. Lord acknowledges that Pentecostal pneumatology has enriched understandings of the church, issues of indigenization, and issues of "religious experience," but notes the need to address five key themes: holistic mission, experience, context, community, and spirituality. He develops these themes in the second part of the book.  

Chapters 4 through 8 are divided by themes identified as crucial for a holistic theology of mission. Lord begins his treatment of Pentecostal and charismatic holistic mission acknowledging that there are important lessons to be learned from the universal church, such as critical biblical learning, contemplative traditions, and wider thinking on eschatology and mission. In chapter 4, Lord engages the work of Jürgen Moltmann and Bishop Tom Wright to broaden the traditional charismatic understanding of eschatology to gain a more holistic understanding of mission. In addressing "opposition to mission," Lord offers a helpful critique of Peter Wagner’s view of "territorial spirits" and "powers" that charismatics have used  to separate the spiritual realm from the earthly realm (pp. 70-71). Lord argues that it is more holistic and biblical to hold together the "heavenly" and the "earthly" as God is equally at work in both. He suggests that "what is needed is a multidimensionality of the demonic within which evil opposition to mission can take a variety of forms as the heavenly and the earthly interact in multitude of ways" (p. 72).

Chapter 5, "Experiential Mission," is the central chapter and deserves careful study. Lord discusses his developing framework for "mission of the Spirit" and argues that the Spirit is involved in both the "particular" and the "universal," but it is the Spirit’s movement "between the two that constitutes mission" (p. 87). The argument follows careful interaction with Moltmann’s theology of the spirit or what the author terms "transcendence through immanence" and what Pentecostal scholars stress as "immanence through transcendence" (p. 86). While I was writing a doctoral thesis several years ago, I read Lord’s earlier publication of this framework in the Journal of Pentecostal Theology (2003); it provided an important insight in my research regarding children in crisis. Pentecostals continue to grapple with the question of experience in God and the limits of God and the Holy Spirit in the creation. Lord offers a pneumatological understanding of what Bosch calls God’s "no" to the world and God’s "yes" to the world.[1] Both are essential to mission and it is important to not over-separate these two characteristics of movement in mission.  

Chapters 6 and 7 build on the "universal-particular" framework as the author examines the implications for contextualization and the Christian community. Culture and context provide the means for the particularities of the Christian faith to be mediated within creation. Lord points out that despite the advances in scholarship surrounding contextualization over the last thirty years, the role of the Holy Spirit has received limited treatment in the literature. He addresses the divide between church and culture, as well as revelation and experience through his theological lens of the Spirit’s movement between "particular-universal." Contextualization means that we also consider the relationship between Christianity and other faiths; the work of Amos Yong and Clark Pinnock enlarge this discussion. Considering pluralism and the work of the Spirit, Lord raises crucial questions: "How are the ministries of the Holy Spirit and of Jesus Christ related? Are they identical? Are they completely independent" (p. 97)?

Turning to Christian communities, Lord reexamines the "voluntary principle" in light of Pentecostal experience and suggests six "Spirit formed characteristics" of charismatic mission communities, which he clusters under three headings: prayer, action, and togetherness (p. 115). Lord’s work is prescriptive; I draw the reader’s attention to subsequent treatment of this subject in Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement by Donald E. Miller and Tetsunao Yamamori (2007).

Chapter 8 is a discussion of mission spirituality considering "attractive holiness" and "waiting for the Spirit," which is a means of yearning for more of God (p. 124). Here one finds theological rationale that the life of mission in the Spirit should not be driven by frantic activity but rather by a patient waiting for God’s guidance and empowerment. The book concludes with a chapter summarizing "mission of the Spirit" that includes "evangelism, healing and social, reconciling and ecological action" (p. 135). A closing contribution is offered to Pentecostal-charismatic mission as it engages with non-Western theology. Lord suggests that his holistic framework can help develop intercultural theology within which one enters into the theology of another culture to appreciate it and allow it to shape one’s own.

This work is a significant and timely contribution to Pentecostal-charismatic studies; it allows for further enlargement on a number of levels concerning holistic mission. I recommend the book to educators and students of mission. The author has enriched my work toward a holistic Pentecostal theology of mission with children and youth in crisis. There is much in this text to be commended, especially the integration of what is "below" (that which is human and concerned with this world) with what is "above" (which is of and from God.) As is suggested in the book, God does not remain bracketed on his side of the equation. God in his freedom goes beyond our predictions and our reasonable expectations; God in Christ through the cross articulates God’s odd freedom and his strange justice. I am particularly drawn to Lord’s treatment of "yearning" as a central metaphor in holistic mission. Holism entails openness to the prodding and judgment of God, sensitivity to the experiences and pain of humanity living in a fallen world. God is not limited by "holistic" agendas. Any account of holism offered by Pentecostal or charismatic mission theologians must take into account God’s freedom, disturbance, and gift of pain.

Note

[1]. David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1991), 10-11.

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Citation: William Prevette. Review of Lord, Andrew, Spirit-Shaped Mission: A Holistic Charismatic Missiology. H-Pentecostalism, H-Net Reviews. April, 2009.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=15644

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